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Reviews
Houve uma Vez Dois Verões (2002)
it's long, though it's short
You sit to watch this movie and you think you shouldn't have done that (sit). One, because the movie is almost finishing. And two, because it's boring and extended. There are some very bad performances, including Andre Arteche and Pedro Furtado. And there are some very grotesque things in the production, such as: some people in the background in some scenes are looking at the camera, the mike is visible a lot of times, the camera is visible a lot of times too. However, there are some shots that are very beautiful, such as the one where we see Roza picking up her stuff to leave. But that doesn't save this movie, that can only make you smile, but not laugh.
O Homem Que Copiava (2003)
Ever wanted to be a photocopier operator?
The cinema from Rio Grande Do Sul, a Brazilian State, is considered the third bigger in Brazil. And it grows bigger and bigger each time a film that was shot there is released. I can remember only of two really good ones. One's Carlos Gerbase, director of "Tolerância" (aka Tolerance), which I haven't seen yet. And the other one is this film's director and screenwriter, Jorge Furtado, a guy in his forties whose mind seems even younger. After a huge collection of short films, he made his first feature, "Houve Uma Vez Dois Verões" (aka Two Summers), in 2002. That was a good, quick and nice-looking. And then he makes this second one.
The proportions of this "O Homem Que Copiava" (aka The Man Who Copied) are a hundred times bigger than Furtado's first feature. Starting by the main situation. André (Lázaro Ramos) is eighteen and a photocopier operator in Porto Alegre (capital of Rio Grande do Sul) who lives in a tiny condo with his mother (whose face is never clearly seen). He shares the house expenses with her. After this sharing, a miserable quantity of money is left for him to spend. When the movie starts, he already has a binocular, for which he saved money for a long time. With this binocular, he spies the activities of other people who live in other apartments nearby his.
In one of these apartment, lives Silvia (Leandra Leal), same age as André. She lives with an older man (who's probably her father or something like that). As the endless narration goes by, he'll find out he needs R$ 38 to win Silvia's heart. As the movie continues, we're introduced to Marinês (Luana Piovani), a co-worker of André's, and Cardoso (Pedro Cardoso), Marinês's friend that becomes a very good friend of André's. And that's the main cast. But the story really begins when André copies a fifty bucks note at his job. And through this, several (criminal--and funny) situations develop as the movie runs.
All the four main actors aren't from Rio Grande do Sul. And Rio Grande do Sul's accent is one of Brazilian's most difficult ones. This was clearly a problem. Well, that and the duration of the movie are the only problems. Everyone is awesome. Lázaro Ramos's André is a very shy guy, but not dumb, that just wants to marry the girl loves. I've gotta say that Lázaro Ramos's accent is ridiculous--causing laughter sometimes. Leandra Leal is doing a perfect job as Sílvia, a girl that dreams of going to Rio De Janeiro and meet a guy who was a very good friend of her mother's--and that might be her father. Her accent is the one who seems more natural. Luana Piovani as Marinês is very funny, doing a very sexy (one of my favorite scenes is when André's narration describes her and they have a dialog about and ex-boyfriend of hers) and bitch-like character that--you'll laugh at this--is virgin. And the guy that wants to change her sexual condition is Cardoso. I suspect that this character was specially written for Pedro Cardoso (such as Paulo José's that's called Paulo). Pedro Cardoso is the best on-screen artist, doing a very comic performance and giving a damn about the accent, because he's the only one that doesn't tries to use it.
The screenplay is very well-written and the dialogs are brilliantly thought and spoken. The acting isn't superb, but it's close. The cinematography is "nothing-new". The art direction is OK. The editing made me remember--don't know why--made me remember of Sally Menke's style. I mean, it's really good, very precise. But, the greatest thing in the movie, is the directing. Jorge Furtado conducted the actors in very nice way and the various formats used throughout the movie are original. Only one thing in the screenplay is the surprise in the end of the film. It seemed a little lot unnatural. But, forgetting that, it's okay and it's funny and it's a very good movie. Really.
Meu Tio Matou um Cara (2004)
Good, but Furtado's worst one
This movie is very nice-looking and very good-humored. But, being good-humored doesn't suggest it's funny. The only funny parts are the ones we see Renan Gioelli and Ailton Graça; although they don't have any scenes together. So let's see the story: Duca (Darlan Cunha, very sleepy), his father Laerte (Ailton Graça, excellent, but not brilliant), his mother Cleia (Dira Paes, nothing unusual), and his uncle Eder (Lazaro Ramos, not so good and supposedly the "male lead"), are all black. The story begins when Eder enters his brother's apartment (his brother is Laerte) and the first thing he says is "I killed a guy". Then the story introduces us to Duca's best friends: Kid (Renan Gioelli) and Isa (Sophia Reis). Duca secretly loves Isa. Isa secretly loves Kid. Kid doesn't hide from anyone that he loves all girls. During the movie--short movie, it has 80 minutes of picture, plus 5 of credits--we see Duca trying to "seduce" Isa--for lack of a better word--and how Isa and Kid help (or bother) Duce while he tries to solve his uncle's misunderstood story. There are some (weak) surprises as the movie goes and my favorite scene is the last, which is about two minutes long and shot in one shot. 'Course I won't tell what happens in this scene. In the DVD, there is a special feature, that shows the actors improvising their characters as if they were making a testimony for something, but in it they just comment the other characters by their point-of-view. Very funny. Then, there's the production part. The camera is clearly visible twice in the movie (both of them reflected in cars) and the score (not the songs) sometimes doesn't tie with the scene's thematic. But, hey, it's not just bad things. The editing is very precise (check out that scene where we see Éder exiting frame from left as the same Éder is entering frame from right). Art direction is nice. Costumes are very alike normal middle-class Brazilian teenagers. Jorge Furtado's directing is functional. Let's review the acting: Darlan Cunha--just bad; Sophia Reis--shows a lot of talent in her first feature; Renan Gioelli--particularly I think he's the best actor in the film; Ailton Graça--good supporting work; Dira Paes--nothing new; Lazaro Ramos--now, this guy is awful; Deborah Secco--she's as awful as Lazaro Ramos. But, the biggest problem in the film is the screenplay. It just doesn't get us excited.